Another Trader Joe's for the Triangle

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Trader Joe's store to open with fanfare

Trader Joe's will open its new store at 1800 E. Franklin St. on Friday morning.

Store employees wearing Hawaiian shirts will gather at 8:45 a.m. for a ceremonial lei cutting to welcome customers Trader Joe's style. The celebration will continue throughout the day with raffles, food samples and face painting, games and balloons for children.

The Trader Joe's chain began in 1958 in the Los Angeles area and has expanded to more than 285 stores in 23 states. The new 13,000-square-foot store will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Shoppers pack Trader Joe's for opening

Eager shoppers packed the new Raleigh Trader Joe's Friday, snapping up cheap produce, cheese, snacks and -- of course -- cheap wine.

An hour after opening, checkout lines were 10 or 15 people deep.

But unlike the last two Triangle Trader Joe's openings, there was a little less of the frenzy that fans have come to expect. As of 8:30 a.m., just half an hour before the 9 a.m. opening, just one person was in line: Karen Zander.

Trader Joe's grocery in Raleigh likely to open in autumn

Despite months of delays, it looks as if the Raleigh Trader Joe's store will still have a 2009 grand opening after all.

The date is still in limbo, but the month will be October, said Mark Pitney, vice president of the Raleigh division for Lat Purser & Associates. That's the Charlotte company that has spent more than a year totally overhauling the shopping center at Wake Forest Road and Interstate 440.

Fans of the California grocer fretted as the project was delayed in the city approval process. To help calm fears that the long delay meant Trader Joe's had backed out of the deal, Lat Purser installed a sign Wednesday in front of the now-under-construction store declaring "Trader Joe's Coming Soon."

Trader Joe's is delayed

Trader Joe's fans are going to have to wait a wee bit longer to buy Two Buck Chuck in Raleigh.

But don't panic.

Trader Joe's is not nixing plans for its store in the Holly Park shopping center at Wake Forest Road and the Beltline. It's just taking a little longer than expected.

Spanish Vines come to the South

When Josh Hackler decided to share his love of Spain by bringing affordable wines to the U.S. market, he wasn't even old enough to apply for an import license.

He's now 24, and his company, Spanish Vines is off to a good start, now at Trader Joe's, Harris Teeter, Kroger, Whole Foods and Earth Fare stores in the South. Spanish Vines has three lines, all affordable, all tasty, and all hand-selected by an idealistic kid with a passion for Spain, an ability to recognize good wine, and the drive to bring that wine to an eager market.

Hackler knows the food and beverage business. His father, Joe, owned restaurants in Myrtle Beach (The Old Pro's Table, Aspen Grille). At age 12, Hackler was flipping steaks on the grill, standing on a milk crate. The restaurant business is tough, though, and his father encouraged Hackler to pursue other business avenues.